Dido loves Aeneas, the Trojan stranger. Virgil tells the story here.
Aeneas is destined to begin a love affair which will have disastrous consequences with Dido, the Queen of the new Phoenician city of Carthage, which she is in the process of building on the North African coast. Now his mother the Goddess Venus, in human disguise, tells him why Dido was forced to leave her homeland.
The fresco of Venus arising from the waves is from Pompeii.
Hear Virgil’s Latin and follow in English here.
After stabbing herself, Dido lingers on in pain until Juno, Queen of the Gods, takes pity and sends Iris, the Goddess of the rainbow to set her finally free. See and hear the passage here.
In an ode in which Horace is referencing a poem by Alcaeus, one of his most revered early Greek models, he not only commends wine – in moderation – but also reminds us of its dangers. As an example, he gives the wedding of the legendary hero and friend of Theseus, Pirithous, at which the centaurs who had been invited got drunk and molested the bride, triggering a pitched battle.
Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here.